"Chunichi suggested that look into at how things changed after switch over [to a new standard baseball] after the first year of use," said board chairman (and Yakult director) Junsei Atarashi.

He also said, "We have a bunch of data [to look at]. This isn't about not using or using [the new baseball]. We just decided to formally look into the numbers."

A person with knowledge of the discussion also added that research will only be conducted by the Central League. The Pacific League may also get involved later on, making it a league-wide inspection of results. There also exists a possibility that the league will stop using the new baseball based on the results of the study.